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RBI asks banks to stick to December deadline for insolvency The latest communique is a reminder of that deadline, say bankers The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), sources say, has instructed banks to maintain the December deadline for completing the bankruptcy proceedings on their largest non-performing assets (NPAs), in addition to the 12 named in June and the ones in various stages of similar operations.  Senior bankers of various banks said there was no common list as such, but separate lists for different banks, drawn up on the basis of each one’s exposure to the defaulters.  So, say, if State Bank of India (SBI) received a list of 30 accounts, Punjab National Bank had a 20-account list, IDBI Bank had a list of 15-20 names, and Bank of Maharashtra was given a list of 10 names, say bankers. Many of the accounts are common among the lists as the loans were given by consortiums of lenders.  On June 13, the RBI had said the top 12 accounts, having an exposure of at least Rs 5,0

GST collections top govt target, 64% file returns in July: Arun Jaitley First month sees Rs 92,283 cr mop-up; Arun Jaitley says 'we have crossed the red line' The collections under the goods and services tax (GST) in July, the first month of its  roll-out, exceeded the Union and state governments’ target, even though 36 per cent of the  assessees did not file returns. The governments have earned Rs 92,283 crore, against the target of Rs 91,000 crore. Extrapolating the targets in the annual Budget, the central government’s July tax revenue  should have been Rs 48,000 crore. Assuming 14 per cent growth each in 2016-17 and 2017-18  over the 2015-16 revenues of the states, their tax kitty should have been more than Rs  43,000 crore for the month.  The growth rate is taken in accordance with a formula of compensating loss-making states. Thus, the combined kitty comes to Rs 91,000 crore. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: “We have crossed the red line so far as

New money laundering norms stump jewellery sector Dealers with turnover of Rs 2 crore and above covered; industry says threshold too low The central government has notified the money laundering rules for the gems and jewellery  sector with immediate effect. Now, any entity deals in precious metals, precious stones, or other high-value goods and  has a turnover of Rs 2 crore or more in a financial year will be covered under the  Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA, 2002). The limit of Rs 2 crore would be calculated on the basis of the previous year’s turnover,  said the notification. The directorate general of goods and service tax intelligence has  been appointed under the Act. Sources said the government’s move to apply the PMLA to the jewellery sector was a fallout  of income-tax raids on jewellers soon after demonetisation last November, when it was  found that they sold gold and jewellery at a huge premium and accepted old currency notes  as payment. The no

Financial year change to Jan-Dec ruled out for now The Centre’s plan to change the financial year cycle from April-March to January December  has been put on hold and may not materialise in the Narendra Modi government’s current  term, according to a senior official. Any change in the financial year would have to be agreed upon by all states, and a number  of them were still not in its favour, the official, who did not wish to be named, said on  Monday. Besides, the government did not see many advantages in switching to the  January December cycle, the official added. Surprisingly, changing the financial year has been one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  pet themes. “A number of states are not on board with the idea. The financial year change has been put  on the back burner,” the official said, adding that a final decision on the matter could  be taken in 2019. “Too many disruptions like the goods and services tax (GST) and lack of data are also  hurdles in advancing the

I-T department warns against cash dealings above Rs 2 lakh The Income-Tax Department on Monday warned people against cash dealings of Rs 2 lakh and more, saying any violation of this cap will invite strict penalty under law.  In a public message, the department said “accepting Rs 2 lakh or more in aggregate from a single person in a day for one or more transactions relating to one event or occasion is prohibited”.  The Economic Times, New Delhi, 29th August 2017.

GST filing date extended The government has extended the date for filing goods and services tax (GST) for those  providing online information and database access or retrieval services from outside India  to a non-taxable online entity.  They can now file their July return (GSTR5A) by September 15, according to notification by  the central government. This covers central GST as well as integrated GST. States would  separately issue their respective notifications for SGST.  The government has notified new dates for filing of returns (GSTR6) for input service  distributors for July to September 8 and for August to September 23. The July return forms  had to be filed till August 13.  The Economic Times, New Delhi, 29th August 2017

Over 3.6 million businesses file GST returns Those who wish to claim transitional input tax credit could file returns by August 28 As many as 36,32,279 businesses filed their returns for the month of July till Monday  morning under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. However, there were problems with  the filing of forms required for claiming input tax credit for pre-GST stocks. Those who have filed the returns constitute about 42 per cent of total number of assessees  of 8.7 million under the GST regime. However, 2.2 million of these assessees are yet to  complete the migration process. A last-minute rush had led to the GST Network portal, the  information technology backbone of the new indirect tax system, crashing last week,  forcing the government to postpone the tax filing deadline by five days to August 25. Those who wish to claim transitional input tax credit could file returns by August 28.  However, there were certain issues with TRAN-1 forms, needed for claim